Winding machine



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A 7' TORNEI March 19, 1935. R. PASH WINDING MACHINE Filed sept. 2s, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 A TTORNE Y March 19, 1935. R. PAsH WINDING MACHINE Filed Sept. 2S, 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR A rroR/VE r March 19, 1935. R. PASH WINDING MACHINE Filed Sept. 2":3,l 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG. 9.

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ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 19, 1935 UNITED STAT-151s WINDING MACHINE Robert Pash, Cranford, N. J., assignor to Western Electric Company, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application September 28. 1932, Serial No. 635,178

9 Claims.

This invention relates te winding machines and more particularly to machines for winding coils upon cores which have a central space through.

which the turns of a coil pass.

Such cores may be for example, doughnut shaped, horseshoe shaped, triangular, etc., their characteristic feature being the partial or complete enclosure by theaxially curved or bent core thereof of a space through which the windings of a coil on the core must pass. For the purposes of this disclosure the word toroid will be used hereinafter as the name 'for such coils and their cores and to include not only such structures as have a complete annulus for core but also those which may be considered as parts oi such.

A primary object of this inventionis to provideV and the core and thus permit the spool ring to travel or be driven at. an unvarying rate.

In one embodiment of this invention as applied -to a machine for winding the closed ring core toroidal coils used for loading telephone circuits, there is provided a guide ring to take the wire to be wound on the core from a spool ring and carry the wire around the core. The guide ring and the spool ring are themselves incomplete annuli with a gap in each to permit them to pass over the core when the latter is positionedior winding and overthe completed coil when it is removed. In operation the guide ring and spool ring, which are interlinked with the toroidal core, move in a closed path passing through the space enclosed or partially enclosed by the' core which in turn extends through the-spaceinside o! the guide ring and spool ring. Separate and independent means are provided to drive the guide ring with a predetermined cyclically irregular motion and to allow the spool yring,vpropelled primarily by the withdrawal of wire therefrom, to

float at a substantially constant rate of rotation l 55 to keep the tension under which the wire is transvariation in the length of wirebetween .the guide sheave and a core being wound;

ferred constant. To assist further in imposing, maintaining and Vregulating this tension of the wire, means are provided to apply an adjustable drag or braking effect to the spool ring.

A Other objects and advantages of this invention 5 will appear more fully from the following detailed description. taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. wherein Fig. l is a view in horizontal longitudinal section through the principal axis of a winding ma- 10 chine embodying the features of this invention;

Fig. 2 is a view in'transverse vertical section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view in right hand end elevation of the machine with a portion of the topA broken away;

. Fig. 4 -is a similar complementary view thereof showing the portion broken away in Fig. 3 Vand completing that ligure; y

Fig. 5 is a view in transverse vertical section 20 on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the supply spool support and drive shown in broken side elevation in Figs. 3 and 4:

Fig. 7 is a diagram showing a sequence of rela- 25 tive positions of the guide ring strand guide Fig. 8 is a view in transverse vertical section taken onV the line 8-8 of Fig. 1 showing the spool ring'and its drive gears;

Fig. 9 is a view in transverse vertical section taken on the line 9`9 of Fig. 1 showing the guide rinlg; and. its supporting and driving gears and ro Fig. l0 is a detached view in side elevation of 35 the spool ring;

Fig. 11 is a detached view in side elevation of the guide ring;

Fig. 12 is an enlarged view in transverse radial section of the spool ring and guide ring taken 40 on the line 12-12 of Fig. 3, and

Fig. 13 is an enlarged broken detached radial plan view of a portion of the guide ring showing the strand guide member and the strand guide sheave thereof.

Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein like reference numerals indicate similar parts throughout the several views, the winding machine in the embodiment disclosed comprises a 50 housing and mounting casing generally indicated by the numeral 20.

A drive shaft 2l mounted in the housingyand` provided with a driven gear 22 and a driving gear 23 conveys power from a motor 24 of any ap- 55 substituted therefor.

proved kind to a main driving gear 25. A group of three planetary gears 26 is mounted upon the main gear 25 upon shafts 27 journalled, as shown in Fig, 1, at their left hand ends in anti-friction bearings 28 carried by the gear 25 and at their right hand ends in similar bearings 29 carried by an annular support 30 attached to the gear 25 by means of screw b'olts 31 entering'bosses 32j found upon the gear 25. The gear" 251s furtherformed with an integral axial sleeve 33 extending outwardly to the right by means of which the gear conical brake surface 39 adapted when the collar 38 is forced to the right to engage with a complementary surface 40 formed on a part of the casing 20 and thereby lock the shaft 34 against rotation. 'Ihe collar 38 is normally .held in engagement with the collar 37 by a spring 41 abutting at one end against the collar 38 and at the other end against an annular shoulder 42 formed upon the shaft 34. Furtherdetails of this clutch mechanism are not pertinent to the invention as any mechanism having the same function can be Suiiice it to say that means are provided to operate the clutch from outside the casing 20.

` A gear 43 is mountedupon the outer surface ofthe collar 37 with freedom to rotate thereon.

Gear 43 is formed with an integral leftwardly ex- A third group 'of three transmission gears 45 is mounted upon the gear 25 on shafts 46 journalled similarly to the shafts 27 in the gear 25 and support 30. These transmission gears 45 mesh respectively with the gears 26 to be driven thereby. An internally. toothed balance ring 47 meshes with and oats upon all the gears 45 for a purpose to be described later.

The rst group of planetary gears r26 also meshes with teeth formed on an-enlarged head 48 formed on a shaft 49 journalled in'anti-friction bearings mounted in a portion of the casing 20.

The bearing 35, above referred to, for the left hand end of the shaft 34 is positioned in the right hand face of the head 48 and concentric therewith. The two shafts 34 and 49, however, have` -no other direct relation or connection. A head 50 rigidly mounted on the left hand extremity of the shaft 49 is formed witha concentric outwardly facing brake drum'surface 51. Around the brake drum surface 51 is positioned with frictional contact therewith a brake band member 52 preferably as disclosed a plurality of intercontinuous'turns of wire having a square cross-secv Ihe left hand end of the brake band 52 is detachably attached by any approved means to an adjusting member 54 in the shape of -a single headed drum integral with or secured to a shaftl 55 rotatably mounted in a stub sleeve 56 formed on the housing 53. 'On the outer surface of the sleeve 56 is rotatably mounted a tensioning dial sleev' `5 7.l *-fl'hecylindridalzpart of: the drum 54 overharigs' and-surrounds the right/hand part of the tensioning sleeve 57 and in the space between these two parts is located a heavy'spiral tension-f.`

spring 58 fastened at its one end to the outer surface of the sleeve 57 and at its other end to the inner surface of the drum 54.

. .At its -left hand end the sleeve 57 is provided with a.- rack gear which enges with a worm 59 hand wheel (not shown), Intermediate its ends the 'sleeve 57 is provided with a dial collar 6l -Awhich may be graduated in any desired units and may be "read through a window'- 62 adjacent thereto in the casing; f f

Rotation of the worm 59by means of the wheel will rotate the "sleeve .57 and'thus increase or diminish the tension of the spring 58 tending to turn the drum 54. 'This 'in -tu'rn tends Ato tighten or loosenx the pressure of 'the brake band '52 on the brake drum 51, thus increasing -or'leaaeningthe resistance to` 'rotation which the toothed'- head 48 offers to the'planetary gears 26, and so -governing the speed of rotation of the gears 26, the gear 43.v

The gear 43 meshes with'a gear shaft 64 journalled in the casing keyed thereto a vgear 65. Arranged equidistantly around the gear 65 'andmeshing therewith are ve gears 66 each mounted on a corresponding 1 shaft at the other end'of 'which is one of a cor- 'Ihe spoolring 68 is an incomplete' having'a gap to.-a11ow a toroidalcoreto. enter-.the ring to be wound and to'bewithdrawn therefrom 'after winding as will be'explained hereinafter in five partial gears; thatpart of the partial' gear in question which has no teeth will be toward the ring and hence any wire carried inthe circuml ferential spool groove of the .ring and drawn across the gap more 'or'lesstautly willnot be abraded bythe teeth of the gear.

Onthe shaft 34 near-its right hand .end is mounted a double drive arm 69. A cam link. 70

' is pivotally coupled at one of its ends to one extremity of the 'drive arm 69. Intermediate its extremities the cam link 70 carries a cam pin 71 having a cam roller. 72- thereon. To the other end ofthe cam linkf70 is pivotally coupled one end of a drive -link 73 which in turn is pivotally connected at its other end by means of a pin 74 to a gear 75 mounted on the shaft 34 with freedom to rotate, thereon. i

In the right hand end of the casing 20 is detachably mounteda cam block 76 having in its inner left hand face a cam track 77 to receive and guide the cam roller 72 and the cam p in 71 of the cam link 70. 'Identical parts are mounted in similar fashion on the respectively diametrically opposite sides of the gear 75 tocounterbalance the -shafts 27', the .gears '44 andthe 63' keyed to a mounted in the casing 53 and provided with a 'l cam link 70, the mass of the cam pin 71 and roller 72 and the drive link 73, but are otherwise functionless dummies, the weight which counterbalances the cam pin 71 and the cam roller 72 not entering the cam slot 77.

The gear 75 meshes with a pair of gears 78 keyed to a pair of shafts journalled inthe casing 20 on the other end of each of which shafts is' mounted a gear 79. A wire winding guide ring 82 surrounds and meshes with the -two gears 79, by means of gear teeth cut on the inner periphery of the ring. The ring 82 is further carried by a pair of grooved idler rolls 83 suitably mounted on shafts carried by the casing.

'I'he guide ring 82 and the spool ring 68 are each incomplete rings as shown in Figs. 7 and 8, being formed with corresponding gaps to permit of a toroidal core being positioned partly within the rings 68 and 82 for winding a wire upon the core.

A clamping device generally indicated by the numeral 84 is mounted directly in front of the rings 68 and 82 to hold a toroidal core 85 in position to be wound. The nature and detailed construction of the clamping device are irrelevant to the present invention and so will not here be described in detail being sulciently disclosed in Fig. 3 of the drawings. It suflices to note that the device 84 holds a toroidal core 85 clamped therein with the center of the core substantially in the path of motion of the wire guide ring 82, and with the central plane of the toroidal core passing through or near the axis of rotation of the guide ring. Also the device 84 is mounted to be movable to distribute the windings as desired on the core. Movement of the clamping device and core may be by hand, or means may be provided to eectthis motion automatically by connection to some moving part of the machine proper, or. byl an independently controlled separated drive.

In the upper part of the housing which covers the drive of the spool ring 68 is mounted a shaft carrying a gear 86 meshing with the main drive\ gear25 for driving the machine by hand to adjust the positions of the rings 68 and 82whenv the power is shut oft. 'I'his hand drive gear 86 is actuated by any approved disconnectable hand operated device whose precise nature is not relevant to the invention and hence is not shown.

In an upper part of the housing 20 is positioned and mounted a supply spool supporting and driving mechanism generally indicated by the reference numeral 87. Power is carried from the. motor 24 through various gears as indicated in Fig. 3 to a gear 88 mounted on a shaft 89 journalled at both ends in the casing 20' near one end of the shaft. A second gear 88, twin to the first, is mounted on the same shaft 89 near the other end thereof so that the shaft 89 and the two gears 88-88 rotate as one. A pair of twin levers 90 is pivotally mounted respectively beside the gears 88 and free to rotate coaxially therewith. On each of the levers 90 is mounted one of a pair of shafts on which is an anti-friction bearing carrying rotatably thereon one of a pair of twin broadgrooved sheaves 91-91. Each of these sheaves 91 meshes with the corresponding gear 88 by means of gear teeth formed on one rim of each sheave 91. Since the levers 90 carrying the toothed sheaves 91 rotate about the same axis as the gears 88 the latter'are always in mesh with the sheaves 91 in all positions of the levers 90.

Above and in front of the sheaves 91 is positioned a shaft on Which is mounted a pair of narrow-grooved sheaves 92 whose center planes are parallel to but outside of the center'planes of the broad-grooved sheaves 91. Above and behind the sheaves 91 is similarly located and supported a pair of narrow-grooved sheaves 93 whose center planes are parallelto and inside of the center planes of the broad-grooved sheaves 91.

Around the three sheaves, one each of the pairs 91, 92 and 93, lying approximately in one plane,

passes one of a pair of endless belts 94. These belts may be thought of as passing forward over the tops of the sheaves 93, down in front of, under and up behind the sheaves 91 to pass up behind,

forward over the sheaves 92, down under the .sheaves 91 for the second time and up behind and heads and having a reserve supply of wire to be wound on cores is laid across thepbelts as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, resting with the wire wound on its barrel lying directly against the belts 94 and the two belts passing just inside of the heads of the spool to hold the same laterally in place. 'Ihe belts 94 will then turn the spool 95 in such fashion that the peripheral velocity of the outer layer of wire will always be the same as the linear velocity of the belts regardless of the quantity of wire on the barrel of the spool.

The spool being laid on the belts as shown in Fig. 3 with the wire wound clockwise thereon, and the belts 94 running down at the rear and up at the front of the spool, the wire 96 will be unwound dependent only upon the speed of the belts 94. A

guide sheave 97 is mounted on the casing above' the spool ring 68 to assist in transferring a supply of wire from the reserve supply spool to the spool ring 68 as required.

` Appropriate means of any approved type are interposed between the motor 24 and the spool device drive gear 88 to start and stop the device 87 independently of the rest of the machine and to regulate the speed of the drive gear 88. The nature of these means is not relevant to the invention and so they are not shown.

A counting device of any approved construction may be mounted on the casing as generally indicated at 98 to record the amount of wire wound on a core. This device 98 is also not shown in detail as it is not pertinent to the invention and such devices are well known and of many forms.

The spool ring 68, shown in detail in Figs. 10 and 12, is provided with a. deep peripheral groove or channel 99 for the reception of a supply of wire to be wound upon a core'and the guide ring 82 is provided with a notched take-oil` member 100 (Figs. 12 and 13)v and a guide sheave 101. 1 The member 100 overhangs the channel 99 of the spool ring to lift a wire out of the'channel `ancl the guide sheave 101 guides the wire into place on the core to be wound as the guide ring carries the sheave A101 around the core.

To describe the Aoperatioin of the embodiment of the invention here disclosed let it be assumed that all power is shut oil, and that a core 85 to be wound with Wire is in position in the clamping device 84. A reserve supply spool of wire to be wound on a core is placed in position at 95 on the belts 94 and a suihcient length drawn oi by hand to passover' the sheave 97 and be hooked at -fasten the `wlre 96 to the spool ring. The clutch device is then operated to4 force-the collar 38 (Fig. 1) to the right to disengage the collar 38 from the sleeve 37 and to engage the complementary brake surfaces 39 and 40 thus locking the guide ring 38 and its driving train of mechanism against rotation.

'I'he motor 24, which is provided with any approved means to start, stop and reverse its motion, is then started in a direction to drive the gear 23 clockwise as seen in Fig. 5, thus driving the main drive gear 25 counter-clockwise. 'I'he motion is transmitted through the planetary gears 26 and 44 to the gear 43 and thence through the gear 63 and gears 66 to the five partial gears 67 which support and drive the spool ring 63 in' clockwise rotation.

At the same time the motor 24 is coupled to the gear 89 through the intervening transmission means and clutch to rotate the gear 89 clockwise thus driving the belts 94 to unreel the wire 96 from the spool 95 at constant speed.

These parts and their relative rates of motion are so proportioned and arranged that the spool ring 68 will withdraw'the wire 96 from the reserve wire supply spool under a constant predetermined tension substantially equal to the tension under which the 4wire will later be wound upon the core 85.

When a sufiicient quantity of wire for the proposed coil on the core 85 has been wound in this way into the channel 99 'of the spool ring` the motor 24 is stopped and is uncoupled from the reserve supply spool drive gear 89 as this gear 89 and its appurtenant apparatus will not be actuated again until another supply of wire for immediate winding is to be put on the spool ring. The wire is then cut between the guide sheave 97 and the spool ring.

By manual actuation of the gear 86 the spool ring 68 is now moved to bring the gap therein intoal'ignment with the gap in the guide ring 82. The clutch device on the shaft 34 is then operated to disengage the brake surfaces 39 and 40 and to re-engage the sleeve 37 and collar 38 thus releasing the guide ring 82 and its drive and recoupling the latter to the main drive.

'I'he free end of thewire on the spool ring is then brought up over the notched take-off member (Fig. 10), around the guide she'ave 101 on the guide ring. and into the core and`fastened thereto. l

The motor 24 is then reversed and started to run in the opposite' direction to that used in the spool ring lling operation just described. The spool ring is driven by the same sequence of mechanism as before at a substantially unvarying rate of speed in counter-clockwise rotation as seen in Fig. 3. The driving arm 69 (Figs. 1 and 2') is also driven at a substantially constant rate of speed but as it drives the cam pin 71 and cam roller 72 around the fixed cam track 77 the latter enforces a` rhythmic opening and closing of the angle between the cam link 70 and the driving link' 73 with the result that while thel driving arm "69 and the gear 75 make the same number of revolutions per minute, during each revolution the gear 75 alternately runs ahead of and lags behind the unvaryingly moving driving arm 69. This enforced and 4predetermined cyclic acceleration of the gear 75 is carried on through the gears V78 and 79 to the guide ring 82.

The elements of the spool ring drive and of the guide ring drive are so proportioned and renately run ahead of and lag behind' the unv'ary'- ingly rotating spool ring during each revolution thereof. In the sum total of their relative motions the guide ring lags behind the spool by' an amount representing the length of wire unreeled from the spool ring and wound upon the core.

from the center of the core through the lower half of its orbit, it takes wire from the spool ring to wind upon the core plus wire to compensate for the increasing distance between the sheave and the core. As the sheave moves over the upper half of its orbit the lessening distance between the sheave and thecore may, in some instances, tend to more than balance the length of wire being wound on the core so that wire is actually being put back on the spool ring while still being wound on the core. 'I'he motion of the wire coming oif the spool ring is partly an unreeling, entailing rotation of the spool ring, and partly an unwinding from and rewinding on the spool ring requiring no relative rotation thereof. Hence,in machines where the guide ring turns at an unvarying rate, the spool ring must alternately run ahead of and'lag behind the guide ring. A; brake or other adjustable tension device in these prior machines keeps the necessary winding tension upon the wire by exerting a constant yieldingly retarding action on the spool ring. Due to the inertia of the parts when the guide of these machines -is taking wire from the spool at an increasing rate during half the' winding cycle'there is naturally a tendency for the tension in the wire to increase which will be reversed into a tendency to produce slack during the other half of ythe winding cycle. This is compensated by a more sure roughly speaking inversely with the varying take-off of wire from the spool ring.

.or less complex and delicatefs'ystem of yieldingly According to the present invention thespool v ring runs at unvarying speed and the guide ring is driven at a cyclically varying speed to co'mpensate for the cyclically varyingfiistance between the guide sheave 101 and 1 .'ci'lrev85 thus keeping the rate at which wire Ais ixnreeled from the spool ring constant and so keeping the tension on the wire constant without any additional The brake device-including the drum 5o andbanu' 52 are adJusted so that when the machine is running at full speed the shaft 49 and head 48 are held motionless or creep only very slowly thus supplying the resistance to turning of the head 48which enables the llatter to force the planetary gears 26 to rotate as they are revolved about the head 48 by the gear 25. Evidently this resistance to rotation of the head 48 will not be suilcient, when so adjusted, to withstand the rotary stress on the head 48 involved during the positive and negative accelerations respectively of the moving parts. Hence, the auxiliary gears 45 meshing with the gears 26 and the balance ring 47 floating on the gears 45 are provided. During acceleration the inertia of the ring 47 tends to assist the head 48 in forcing the gears 26 to rotate as they revolve and the ring 47 is so proportioned that this eiect, which varies in magnitude and sense with the acceleration, offsets or balances the added accelerative turning stresses on the head 48 and hence prevents the accelerative actions and reactions vfrom disturbing the tension on the wire being wound. Thus the machine can be started and brought up to running speed or brought to a stop under heavy positive or negative acceleration in a very short time without adverse eects on its adjustments or operation. 'Ihe balance ring 47 further acts as a ily wheel tending td absorb and iron out the pulsating reaction upon the drive of the alternately positively and negatively accelerated gear i5 and its associated parts, and of the cam pin '11.

It will be obvious that the embodiment herein disclosed is only illustrative and not exhaustive of the invention and may be varied in many ways without departing from the spirit of the invention as principally characterized by the provision of means in a winding machine to drive the lstrand winding guide thereof at a predeterminedvarying speed and as further characterized byvadditional features and combinations thereof particularized and pointed out in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. In a winding machine, a spool ring, a winding guide independentv thereof but coacting therewith, means to drive the winding guide comprising a motor, a driving arm driven by the motor with substantially unvarying motion,V a cam link driven by the driving. arm, a driving link driven by the cam link to drive the winding guide, and a cam member coacting with the cam. link to convert the substantially unvarying mo= tion of the driving arm into cyclically positively andnegatively accelerated motion of the driving link.

2. In a winding machine, a spool ring, a winding guide independent thereof but coacting therewith, means to drive the winding guide comprising a motor, a driving arm driven by the motor with substantially unvarying motion, a cam link driven by the driving arm, a driving link driven by the cam link to drive the winding guide, and an interchangeable cam mem` ber coacting with the cam link to convert the substantially unvarying ,motion of the driving arm into cyclically rpositively and negatively accelerated motion of the driving link.

3. In a winding machine, strand supply means movable in a circular path, a winding guide movable in a circular path, a principal driven member rotatable at constant speed, vmeans interposed between the driven member and the strand supply means to drive the latter at constant speed, and means independent of the means to drive the supply means interposed between the` driven member and the winding guide to drive the latter at a speed having a predetermined cycle of variation.

4. In a winding machine, strand supply means mounted to be movable in a circular path, a winding guide mounted independently of the strand supply means and movable in a circular path, a principal driven member rotatable at constant speed, supply driving means interposed between the member and the strand supply means for driving the latter at constant speed,

and guide driving means independent of the supply driving means and interposed between the member and the winding guide to drive the latter at a speed having a predetermined cycle of variation.

5. In a winding machine, strand supply means movable in a circular path, a winding guide movable in a circular path, a principal driven member rotatable at constant speed, means interposed between the driven member and the strand supply means to drive the latter at constant speed, means independent of the means to drive the supply means interposed between the driven member and the winding guide to drive the latter at a speed having a predetermined cycle of variation, and adjustable means to alterthe constant speed of the supply means.

6. In a winding machine, strand supply means movable in a circular path, a winding guide movable in a circular path, a principall driven member rotatable at constant speed, adjustable means interposed between the driven member and the strand supply means to drive the latter at adjustably constant speed, and means independent ofthe means to drive the supply means interposed between the driven member and the winding guide to drive the latter at a speed having a predetermined cycle of variation.

7. In a windngrnachine, a spool ring mount' terposed between the member and the guide ring to drive the latter at a speed having a predetermined cycle'of variation.

8. In a winding machine, a spool ring mounted for rotation, a guide ring mounted independently of the spool ring for rotation, a principal driven member rotatable at constant speed, power transmission means interposed between the member and the spool ring to drive the latter at constant speed and including an adjustable element to alter the constant` speed of. the spool ring, and second power transmission means interposed between the member and the guide ring to drive the latter at a speed having a predetermined cycle of variation and including an interchangeable element to alter the cycle of variation. I

9. In a winding machine, a spoel ring mounted for rotation, a guide ring mounted independently of the spool ring for rotation, a principal driven member rotatable at constant speed, power transmission means interposed' between the -member and the spool ring to drive the latter at constant speed, and second power transmission means interposed between the member and the guide ring to drive the latter at a speed having a predetermined cycle of variation and including an interchangeable element to alter the cycle of variation.

' ROBERT PASH. 

